Wednesday, September 10, 2014

The Drop Review

Michael R. Roskam’s latest character driven neo noir “The
Drop” takes place in a cold and gloomy working class Brooklyn neighborhood.
The kind of neighborhood where all business and justice is handled outside of
the law. And kept within the neighborhood. The movie was written by crime
author Dennis Lehane—adapted from his own short story “Animal Rescue”—and
watching it you get the same sinister vibe characteristic of his other works
such as “Mystic River.” His characters are usually deeply Catholic and by
committing crimes they acknowledge they’re sinning but they also have their own
set of moral codes and see their crimes as necessities. They do their dirty
deed, accept their sin and let the dark secret be absorbed into the
neighborhood mythology.

The people who inhabit “The Drop” are narrow-minded; they’re
practically isolated from the rest of the world, the rest of the city even.
They’re a tight-knit community, set in their ways. They don’t want things to
change, they don’t want the “old neighborhood” to be developed or gentrified. This
is familiar cinematic territory but Roskam—a Belgian director, who made the
Oscar nominated “Bullhead” a few years ago—shows an impressive understanding
and navigation of this wholly American environment. His transition from foreign-language
filmmaking to English is seamless.

One of those narrow minded, set in his ways guys is the
lonely bartender Bob (Tom Hardy) who works at a tavern run by his cousin Marv
(James Gandolfini). The bar is owned by some shady people and oftentimes serves
as a place for people perform illegal money drops. Even though he’s surrounded
by seedy individuals and criminal activities on a daily basis, Bob doesn’t
really want anything to do with crime. He doesn’t even come off as a tough or
intimidating guy; instead he’s timid and non- confrontational. He’s handsome
but definitely not charming or smooth. Very awkward and simple minded in some
regards. He doesn’t want to cause any trouble; in fact when the tavern is
robbed he helps the cops out by telling them that one of the robbers had a
broken watch. That’s of course a no-no. He doesn’t appear to have much in the
way of long-term goals or aspirations but seems perfectly content with being a
lowly bartender.

Of course since this is Film Noir we know Bob’s going to run
into trouble and that trouble comes in peculiar form: an abused pit bull puppy he
happens to find in a trash can on his way home. The trash can belongs to the
troubled recovering addict Nadia (Noomi Repace) but it’s not her dog so the two
strike up a friendship and she helps him take care of it. However, before long Nadia’s
unstable ex Eric (Matthias Schoenaerts, another Belgian who starred in “Bull
Head” and does an uncanny American street accent. Something that’s hard to pull
off) comes around causing trouble. (He’s the dog’s original owner.)

Thankfully, Roskam doesn’t linger on the animal abuse aspect
of the story too long; he gives us just enough to gain our sympathies and then
moves on without exploiting it any further. Animal abuse is one of the easiest,
most manipulative ways to inspire an emotional reaction out of the audience.

Aside from being a way to thicken the plot, the puppy—later
named Rocco—serves to further emphasize Bob’s non-criminal, non-intimidating
attitude. Rocco is a symbol of innocence; a helpless creature abused and
abandoned for Bob to come and rescue. (There are subtle allusions to St. Roch,
the patron saint of dogs). Bob didn’t need to rescue Rocco, in fact he knows
nothing about taking care of an animal but he chooses to because—despite his
circumstances—he’s actually sensitive and gentle. And as the movie goes on
Rocco becomes one of his only real friends and the only other character he can
completely trust. In an otherwise dark, gritty movie it’s comforting to see
such a touching and upbeat on-screen relationship and Roskam never lets the
Bob-Rocco relationship become too sappy.

Once again, Hardy turns in a top tier performance. As good
as he is at playing loud boisterous characters—in “Bronson” for example—he’s
even better at playing introverted ones. Those are certainly more difficult to portray
because he has to delicately and quietly lead us into the soul and psyche of
the character instead of projecting their feelings and emotions out in the
open, loud and clear. Hardy gives a powerfully understated performance.

“The Drop” also marks the last on-screen performance from
the late Gandolfini and cousin Marv might be the most complex, tormented
character he played on the big screen. Having portrayed the most memorable
gangster on TV Tony Soprano, Gandolfini will always exert a macho exterior—part
of that is also through his intimidating stature—but interiorly, Marv is a
broken soul. We find out that he used to be a criminal but due to certain
circumstances he gave it up and surrendered the ownership of his bar to
gangsters. It’s left him defeated, emasculated and it leads him to do
dishonorable things. Marv is a man who wishes he could have had more in life, a
man full of regrets and Gandolfini plays him with the right amount of firmness and
melancholy. Both Marv and Bob are softies more than anything.

Since “The Drop” is noir you can expect that the narrative
become complex and murky. Though Roskam is more interested in developing the
characters rather than focusing on the criminal activity. The crimes that are
committed aren’t all that extraordinary, the real mysteries lie in the
characters and their motivations; as it turns out Bob isn’t as innocent as he
puts on and Marv has hidden agendas of his own. The movie can be a bit of a
slow burn but at the same time there’s an overwhelming sense of dread and
paranoia brewing just below the film’s surface, ultimately bubbling up during a
tense climactic confrontation that had me biting my fingernails down to a stub.

There are a few issues with the picture, namely involving
some of the supporting players. Repace does the best she can but her role is
overshadowed by the men and the police detective Torres (John Ortiz) fails to
make much of an impression beyond providing some important information at the
end. “The Drop” isn’t revolutionary and it’s going to be a hard sell for the
general audience but it’s also an expertly made crime movie. One that
recognizes the value of characters and atmosphere instead of twists and turns.